


Warm

by pinkhoodie



Series: Run Away With Me [9]
Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: F/F, Original Character(s), Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-08
Updated: 2019-12-08
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:40:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21711607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkhoodie/pseuds/pinkhoodie
Summary: Maybe Kagome can learn to accept where she belongs after all.
Relationships: Higurashi Kagome/Sango
Series: Run Away With Me [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1461652
Comments: 6
Kudos: 25





	Warm

“Sango, Sango!” Kagome rushes through the door, hiding the sack behind her, hoping she looks just casual and playful enough to keep the surprise a… well, a surprise. “What’cha makin’ for dinner?”

“Oh, so you call _me_ the child, yet dinner is on my shoulders?”

“I’m just curious!”

“Aha, er… well.” Sango’s bluff had been called. “Um, I—”

“I have an idea! You could make—!” Kagome springs the bag forward from behind her, propelling it towards her best friend. Both of them are lucky Sango’s reflexes are still sharp, because Kagome’s clumsy nature had reared up again in the past week or so and the bag had flung forward out of her hands and right into Sango’s chest. “Whatever… is in… here. Aha…”

Sango turns the sack over in her hand and sniffs it, and then she smiles so big Kagome can’t help but stare at her pretty mouth.

“I have a better idea.”

“Hm? O-Oh—”

Sango reaches for Kagome’s hand, traps it between her own and the bag. It’s warm. Her hand, not the bag.

“You can help me make whatever is in here,” she purrs, and Kagome is butter. Putty in her hands. Even more melted candle wax than she thought she could possibly already be.

“Okay.” She pulls herself together, a mental slap to her own cheek as if waking herself up. “Okay! Let’s make dinner together!”

“Can we help, can we help?” The girls chime in, tumbling from their room while Hiroki sleeps. “Let us help, Mama!”

Chiharu glues herself to Sango’s leg, looking up at her while she clutches her skirt, and Miu does the same with Kagome. The priestess feels a little burst in her heart, having one of Sango’s daughters include her in their little gathering game.

“Of course you can help,” Sango hums. “Kagome, would you show them how to wash the fruit?”

“Mhm!” Her voice is a chirp, her hair bouncing with the sharp nod of her head. They wrap themselves up in a blanket, the chilly air settling over the village the closer it gets to night time, and bring with them a wide, shallow wooden bowl. The well, full of crystal clear water, is full and the bucket is already lowered.

“Miu, can you turn the handle and get the bucket, please? And Chiharu, when it comes up, will you grab it? If it’s heavy I’ll help, but I’ve got this _huge—_ ” she fake strains, acting out crumpling under the weight of the bowl on her hip, “ _ginormous, heavy_ bowl to take care of.”

The girls laugh and run to the well, doing exactly as Kagome asks with hardly any trouble at all. Chiharu holds the handle of the bucket in two cute little fists squished against one another at the top, passing it to Kagome to pour into their own bowl. She teaches them that it’s polite to leave things the way they found them, so that the next person won’t have any extra work to do, and they head back home, Kagome careful not to spill anything.

Sango’s gift to the ladies as they return is the wonderful scent of cooking, sticks of meat roasting over the fire and fruit piled neatly for the girls to wash. There are even some vegetables, too, something Sango must have procured while she was out on her own making friends with the townsfolk. Perhaps she’d gone to the fields and helped them there, earning herself a fair wage of food.

“Okay, watch this.” Kagome sets the bowl on the floor and grabs the cloth acting as a mat for the fruit, the pile toppling only a little when she places it down, too. “Here’s how you wash fruit. Everyone grab one.”

Chiharu picks up a plum, and Miu goes just the opposite—a fleshy peach is her choice. Kagome has an apple in her hands, and each fruit will require a different approach. Don’t wanna tear into the peach or squish the plum, all while being mindful of the apple’s skin.

She continues this way, showing them delicacy yet sturdiness, and when they’re done, they give the fruit to Sango.

“Thank you, lights of my life. Girls, you can go play now, but stay in the house. Kagome, will you help me with dessert?”

“Of co—”

The girls interrupt, exciting themselves over _dessert! Dessert!_ but Sango reassures them that they might not get any if they wear themselves out over it this early. Sulking as they head to their room (followed, of course, by laughter once they’re out of sight), the girls leave the women alone.

Sango saves some of the fruit to squeeze up into juice for the girls, but the rest of it goes right into their final course of dinner. Dessert is really simple glazed fruit, some honey mixed in for sweetness; Kagome’s job to skin and chop the fruits (and help Sango taste-test).

“Is this good?” Sango offers Kagome an apple slice drizzled with honey, her fingers just barely touching Kagome’s parted lips when the fruit leaves her hand. It sends tingles up into Kagome’s cheeks, nodding brightly, a sensation in which she relishes.

“Ooh, I have an idea.” Kagome scoots the plate of fruit over toward her when Sango is done with each piece, arranging them into a beautiful layout of slices and cubes and spheres. “Wow, your cutting skills are precise.”

Sango beams quietly. “Well, you know. Culling demons and all.” She lingers on a blink, like a cat proud of herself.

When the dessert is presentable, honey sparkling with the dots of light from the fire; and the tender meat slides off their wooden sticks, Kagome calls the girls back out as Sango trades places with them to retrieve Hiroki. It is, after all, dinner time for him, too.

Around a small table, they gather and Kagome’s eyes catch on the tall ceramic glass that she recognizes as the homemade sake from that woman earlier. Surely, Sango must realize what it is…?

If she’s planning on doing anything with it, at least Sango has the common sense to finish up breastfeeding beforehand. True to her motherly nature (really, she was such a natural), she coos and rocks her baby as he feeds, suckling quietly while the girls pretend to throw up about it.

Kagome trains her eyes on her meat and focuses on swallowing.

“There, there.” Sango pulls her shirt back up, adjusting the fabric one-handed into its rightful place, and then sets him behind her on the bed while they eat. Finally, her turn to take care of herself. When she’s free, the girls scoot themselves and their plates next to their mom, two little chicks seeking out the warmth of their hen of a mother. She kisses the tops of their heads and they eat, a little asymmetrical triage of a family, and Kagome sighs.

Sango is so wonderful, thinking of nothing but everyone around her first. Kagome, in the back of her mind, longs to change that. If only she knew how…

“Kagome!” She’s snapped out of her daze by Sango, who’s holding the ceramic vase of sake. Offering it to her, two little glazed cups next to either of them. “Would you like me to pour you a sip?”

“Oh, are you sure? You,” she says, the tips of her index fingers touching. “Really don’t have to…”

“I would love to.”

“...Okay.” Kagome pushes her cup forward with the very same shy finger, and Sango pours only enough for a very reasonable gulp and a half. Just enough to warm them up on a cold night. Kagome takes the vase when Sango is done and returns the favor to her, tipping the cup. They smile at each other and turn their small cups to their lips.

It’s yummy, a little sweet, a little bitter. Like most alcohol. But Kagome invites the sensation, a spread of heat through her chest mirrored in the spreading smile on her face. But the heat in her chest doesn’t last long, the embers remaining only due to the feelings she’s had by being with Sango for the past few days.

“S’cold…” Kagome stares ahead at her empty plate, her arms bundling up her thin torso with her sleeves. It’s not freezing or anything, and the insulation of the hut is perfectly adequate, but they are away from the fire, and it _is_ still a chilly night.

“Come cuddle up with me and the girls,” Sango offers immediately. She pats the free spot next to her, a spot closer to the fire and more importantly, closer to Sango, and Kagome can only stare with her mouth agape for a moment or two. It would be silly to ask if she was sure—Kagome wonders why it is that she feels the constant need to second-guess Sango for her. But Sango is strong, capable, sure of herself. At least when it comes to her friendship with Kagome.

Wordlessly, Kagome crawls over to her favorite person, and takes the spot that is rightfully hers.

The spot in which she intends to stay.


End file.
